The present invention is directed to a connector device or element holding a plurality of light waveguides in an aligned arrangement with a second plurality of light waveguides. The connector device includes a pair of connector plates or carrier members which have a plurality of parallel extending centering grooves and a guide groove adjacent at least one lateral edge, bridging guide elements having a ridge for receiving the guide grooves of two carrier members to hold them in alignment, and fixing means for holding the carrier members and guide elements in an assembled relationship with the waveguides of one carrier member aligned with the waveguides of the other carrier member.
A connector element or device having two carrier members containing guide grooves for waveguides and a fixing device for holding the carrier elements in axial alignment is disclosed in the allowed U.S. patent application, Ser. No. 634,468, filed July 24, 1984, which issued an Apr. 14, 1987, as U.S. Pat. No. 4,657,341 and whose disclosure is incorporated by reference and was based on the application resulting in German OS 34 08 783. As illustrated, profile members were provided as the guide elements and these guide elements and profile members are manufactured in one piece. These profile members yield the precise alignment of the end face of the light waveguide fibers and must, therefore, be manufactured with a high precision.
When a one-piece base plate is employed, which also embraces the two guide elements proceeding laterally at the right and left of the actual splice location, then their mutual allocation must occur such that not only does the cross section of the profile members itself observe the desired shape with a precision requiring a very high tolerance, but also the mutual spacing between the two guide elements and the position of the two elements relative to one another must exhibit a correct value.